In the first book of "The Recluse," still unpublished, he thus expresses his feelings in settling in his home. at Grasmere, and in looking down from the hills which embosom the lake.

"On Nature's invitation do I come,

By Reason sanctioned. Can the choice mislead,
That made the calmest, fairest spot on earth,
With all its unappropriated good,

My own, and not mine only, for with me

Entrenched say rather peacefully embowered
Under yon orchard, in yon humble cot,
A younger orphan of a home extinct,

The only daughter of my parents dwells;
Aye, think on that, my heart, and cease to stir;
Pause upon that, and let the breathing frame
No longer breathe, but all be satisfied.

Oh, if such silence be not thanks to God

For what hath been bestowed, then where, where then
Shall gratitude find rest? Mine eyes did ne'er

Fix on a lovely object, nor my mind

Take pleasure in the midst of happy thoughts,
But either she, whom now I have, who now
Divides with me that loved abode, was there,
Or not far off. Where'er my footsteps turned,
Her voice was like a hidden bird that sang;
The thought of her was like a flash of light
Or an unseen companionship, a breath
Or fragrance independent of the wind.
In all my goings, in the new and old
Of all my meditations, and in this
Favourite of all, in this the most of all...
Embrace me then, ye hills, and close me in.
Now in the clear and open day I feel
Your guardianship: I take it to my heart;
'Tis like the solemn shelter of the night.
But I would call thee beautiful; for mild,
And soft, and gay, and beautiful thou art,

Dear valley, having in thy face a smile,

Though peaceful, full of gladness. Thou art pleased,
Pleased with thy crags, and woody steeps, thy lake,

Its one green island, and its winding shores,
The multitude of little rocky hills,

Thy church, and cottages of mountain-stone
Clustered like stars some few, but single most,
And lurking dimly in their shy retreats,
Or glancing at each other cheerful looks,
Like separated stars with clouds between."

159

CHAPTER XVII.

66
SECOND VOLUME OF LYRICAL BALLADS."

"I AM anxiously eager to have you steadily employed on THE RECLUSE,' was the language of S. T. Coleridge, to his friend Wordsworth, in a letter addressed to him in the summer of 1799: and, "My dear friend, I do entreat you go on with 'The Recluse ;' and I wish you would write a poem, in blank verse, addressed to those, who, in consequence of the complete failure of the French Revolution, have thrown up all hopes of the amelioration of mankind, and are sinking into an almost epicurean selfishness, disguising the same under the soft titles of domestic attachment and contempt for visionary philosophes. It would do great good, and might form a part of 'The Recluse,' for in my present mood I am wholly against the publication of any small poems."

Again, on Oct. 12. 1799, Coleridge says, "I long to see what you have been doing. O let it be the tailpiece of 'The Recluse!' for of nothing but 'The Recluse' can I hear patiently. That it is to be addressed to me makes me more desirous that it should not be a poem of itself. To be addressed, as a beloved man, by a thinker, at the close of such a poem as 'The Recluse,' a poem non unius populi, is the only event, I believe, capable of inciting in me an hour's vanity-vanity, nay, it is too good a feeling to be so called;

it would indeed be a self-elevation produced ab extra."

In Dec. 1799, he says, writing from London, "As to myself, I dedicate my nights and days to Stuart. . By all means let me have the tragedy and 'Peter Bell' as soon as possible;" and in Feb. 1800, "I grieve that The Recluse' sleeps."

Notwithstanding these exhortations from Coleridge (who, it would appear, calls "The Prelude," or poem on the growth of the author's own mind, by the name of "The Recluse"), Wordsworth was now preparing for publication a second volume of smaller poems. The first edition of the 12mo. single volume of the "Lyrical Ballads was exhausted; and it was now to be reprinted, and published as the first volume of the "LYRICAL BALLADS in Two VOLUMES.'

The second volume was to consist partly of some

1 Its contents are as follows: —

(Lyrical Ballads, vol. ii. ed. London, 1800.)

a Pastoral

The Idle Shepherd-Boys; or, Dungeon-Gill Force :

'Tis said that some have died, &c.

Poor Susan

Inscription for the Spot where the Hermitage stood
on St. Herbert's Island, Derwent-Water
Inscription for the House (an Outhouse) on the
Island at Grasmere

82

84

To a Sexton

86

minor poems already mentioned as composed in Germany, and some others.

How little impression had been made on the public mind by Wordsworth's poetry, and how slender were the expectations of popularity for this new publication, may be estimated from the fact that the sum offered by Messrs. Longman for two editions of the two volumes, did not exceed 1007.; and the author's own anticipations were sufficiently indicated by the motto prefixed to this edition, and to the two following ones of 1802, and 1805, Quam nihil ad genium, Papiniane, tuum!

The first two months of their residence in the vale of Grasmere were very ungenial:

Page

Andrew Jones

The Two Thieves; or, the last Stage of Avarice ·

A Whirl-blast from behind the Hill

Song for the Wandering Jew

Ruth

89

92

96

98

Lines written with a Slate-pencil on a Stone, &c. - 117

Written in Germany on one of the coldest Days in
the Century

144